Things that make me happy...

Today, this is what makes me happy (and the fact that my kids are sleeping soundly in their beds).

COUPONING!!!!

I haven't been a very dedicated coupon shopper for a long time. I decided to just put in the work and do it.

I spent 3 hours cutting and organizing and cleaning out my coupon binder. Now it is all ready to go.
I spent 1 hour getting my lists put together.

Bennett was my little shopping buddy and was "bribed" with way too much junk food.


I went to 3 different stores and was gone ALL day.
But it was all worth it in the end.

TOTAL VALUE OF TODAY'S PURCHASES: $225

TOTAL AMOUNT SPENT: $89

I LOVE saving money and having a full pantry!

You Know You Have A 2-Year-Old When...

You look like this at the end of the day.

And the following things happen in one day:

Bennett locked himself IN the house. I was outside with no keys or phone. He dead-bolted the door and couldn't figure out how to unlock it. After freaking out for a minute, I calmed down & asked him to turn the door again. He was crying and telling me to open the door. I was about to go to the neighbors to call a locksmith when I heard a little "click" and the door unlocked. What a relief!!! I was looking VERY sexy in my stripped p.j.'s and smeared makeup. It would have been awesome to have a locksmith and all the neighbors see me like that!
We move on to the upstairs. While I was in the shower, he climbed up onto the counter and took every Q-Tip in the box, stuck it in his nose or ear, and threw it on the ground. I have germy- germaphobe husband so all of them had to go in the trash.

Then as I am getting dressed, I hear, "Mom, Bennett just did something bad." (Never okay to hear those words). Sure enough, Bennett had colored all over my bedroom door with a pencil. It could have been worse if it was a marker or crayon. I guess I lucked out again.
I am doing my hair when I hear a big crash and I turn around in time to see Bennett flying off my bed onto the floor. Braden pushed him off giving Bennett a rug burn on his eye and ripping out half of his eyelashes at the same time.

Braden felt so bad that Bennett's eyelashes were gone. I asked him what he could do to help Bennett feel better. He said that we should go to the store and buy some hair and we could make eyelashes for Bennett and glue them on. We ended up getting Bennett a car that Braden bought with his own money.

Hailee comes home and a few minutes later I hear, "Mom, Bennett did something bad in my room." (Again, NOT okay). I go up to find that he has pulled off the heating vent and shoved toys down it. Awesome!

That's about all the 2-year-old I can handle today. Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!

Something Worked!

I don't know if it was my change in attitude about Bennett's eating or the Prevacid, but he woke up yesterday and ate ALL day long. He ate 3 bowls of cereal, 2 full lunches, his dinner and Braden's dinner. He also ate an entire carton of strawberries throughout the day. This morning he woke up and ate half of my veggie omlet and wanted more. Who is this kid? I feel bad if the simple fix all this time would have been a little pill. At least we know now!

Bennett's Dr. Appointment

I finally got Bennett to the Dr. today for his 2-year check up (only 6 months late). The conclusion was: he is tall and skinny. Every new Dr. I go to they look at his chart, look at the numbers, look at me, and ask, "is his dad tall and thin?" YES, thank you. I realize the tall and think genes are not mine.

I have been pretty concerned about his weight lately because the boy does not eat. We usually make it through breakfast and lunch okay. But when it comes to dinner, he will not eat no matter what. He will go to bed without eating a single bite. I have tried everything I can think of to make him eat...bribery, threats, games, dipping things, tooth picks, begging, crying, forcing (which resulted in him barfing all over me - I probably deserved it).

After discussing the problem with his Dr. the results: it is probably my fault. I am too controlling and I am more worried about winning the battle. I need to just let it go. He eats his dinner, or he doesn't...the choice is up to him - NOT ME! Soooo hard for me to relinquish control to a toddler who doesn't know what is best for himself. But I am going to try to back off and hopefully get some results. The Dr. also prescribed some Prevacid to try for reflux because Bennett still throws up at night occasionally. That would be great to have no more throw up to clean off sheets.

He is so smart and talks non-stop all day long. He is my little buddy. I love hanging out with him all day.

No, I'm Not Dead

How sad...I really haven't posted anything since May! Good thing one of my New Year's Resolutions is to blog again. How sad that all those thoughts and memories are gone. Well, I will try to play catch-up as best as I can but I will definitely start blogging regularly.

We have had life changing events in the past year. We picked up and moved from Ohio to Utah, Dane got a new job, the kids started school, and we bought a house in Herriman. After my most wonderful and patient in-laws let us stay with them for 7 months, we finally bought a home. We are now in Herriman and loving it. Dane is managing his own store now and he LOVES his job. It makes such a difference in our family to have him really love his job.

We are trying to adjust to being back in a "Utah" neighborhood. It is pretty different from being out of state. We had such great experiences in Texas and Ohio. We were welcomed right in and made friends within the first couple of weeks. Things are much slower here. Part of the problem is that it is winter and no one goes outside. But we haven't really made any friends here yet. Hopefully things will pick up in that area soon.

Hailee is very happy at her new school. We are on year-round school for the first time. She was off for 3 weeks in November. We had a lot of fun...including going to St. George for Thanksgiving. She is in the same class as her 2nd cousin, Kelsie. She was so excited to go to school with someone she knows. She is tired of being the "new" kid. I think this will be the last time. Braden was going to school for a few months but we had to pull him out when we moved because Sandy is about 30 minutes away. We are trying to find a new one for him to go to for the rest of the year. He is SOOOO ready to start something!

We had the best holiday season being able to spend time with our families. It was so much fun to have cousins over and to have grandparents and aunts visit on Christmas!

Sorry about all the words. I think the next posts will be shorter and have pictures.

A Plug For The Greatest Mom Ever!!!

Since you never know who might be glancing at your blog...I wanted to post this for my sister-in-law. She is truly one of the best moms I know. She has the most incredible testimony about adoption and eternal families and shares it with her children, family, and friends. They have had so many struggles with trying to adopt one more child. Their social worker said since there are so many families waiting to adopt a child, the best way to have a sucessful adoption is through someone you know. If anyone who reads this blog and knows of someone wanting to place a baby, please let me know. Thanks to all my wonderful friends and family...I love you all!

We are currently waiting to adopt our 3rd child. If you know of someone that might choose adoption as an option, we welcome anyone to refer us. You can view our file at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/ct/eng/site/pregnant/ 1. click on "view Adopting Family Profiles" 2. Click on "continue" under GUESTS. 3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and type in our names, Tyler, Holly, Utah and click FIND.

Some Cute Pages

I had to put some of these cute scrapbook pages on here. I love to take advantage of my talented mother-in-law's digital scrapbooking hobby. Not only does she scrapbook all of these but she also took most of the pictures. I am so grateful for her willingness to share her beautiful artwork with me.

HAILEE

Crazy faces. Someone likes to pose for the camera.

This is from Hailee's baptism. She is the most beautiful girl. I am so lucky to be her mom.

She's got plenty of personality!

BRADEN

Gotta love this boy.
He never stops moving...even if he loses his pants.

I don't know of anyone who can melt my heart like Braden. He can go from trouble to sweeter than sugar in 3.5 seconds. He's got me wrapped around his finger.

BENNETT
Bennett loves to put baseball hats on. He won't wear one his own size but he will walk around wearing Daddy's or Grandpa's.

That's one cute boy.

ALL OF THEM